Thursday, April 23, 2009

Frasier

"Irritating, but endearing." That's Frasier Crane in a nutshell, as diagnosed by Julia Wilcox (an Emmy-worthy Felicity Huffman), KCAL's abrasive and condescending new financial analyst. That's a delicate balance, but Kelsey Grammer still manages it with the usual aplomb in Frasier's penultimate season. Grammer is at his best when his character is at his stubborn, high dudgeon worst, as in "Enemy at the Gate" when he causes a parking garage backup while protesting a $2 parking fee, trying to find a suitable new coffee shop after Café Nervosa hires a folk singer (Elvis Costello) in "Farewell, Nervosa," or, after scamming his way into becoming a silver level member at an exclusive health spa, "chasing the eternal carrot" of the gold level ("'Please remain in the relaxation grotto.' Have crueler words ever been spoken?") in "Door Jam." But he wins us over anew as he does the hard-hearted Julia with his insistence on doing the right thing and faith in the good in people.
Frasier's tenth season takes a dramatic turn early on with a three-episode arc in which Niles (David Hyde Pierce) undergoes heart surgery, but, much like Niles, the show rebounds quickly with more characteristic episodes such as the Emmy-nominated farce "Daphne Does Dinner," in which another Crane party hurtles toward disaster. In addition to Huffman, other memorable star turns this season include Millicent Martin as Daphne's impossible mother, Jeanne Tripplehorn as a coach whose berating of her students causes Frasier to conjure up hallucinations of his own former gym teacher, portrayed by Bob Hoskins. Bebe Neuwirth returns as Lilith, as does the magnificent Harriet Sansom Harris as Bebe Glazer, who shows up as Dr. Phil's agent (or is it just another Bebe scheme?) in "The Devil and Dr. Phil." There are throughout this season some wonderful play-it-again moments, such as the unwitting Frasier speaking Klingon at his son's bar mitzvah and invoking Sam Malone's classic, "Are you as turned on as I am" to bring a shouting match with Julia to an hilarious anti-climax ("No!" she screams disgustedly). A showdown between Roz (Peri Gilpin) and Julia doesn't make for the most compelling season finale, but because season 11 was previously released on DVD to coincide with the broadcast of the series finale, at least we don't have to wait to see how that turns out. --Donald Liebenson
The Movie:In an era where television is dominated by "reality TV", it has become more and more difficult for a sitcom to prosper. "Frasier" has not only been successful for nearly a decade, but achieved the rare feat of having a character pull an audience from one show to another - something that the "Seinfeld" cast members weren't able to do. As many know, "Frasier" tells the continuing stories of Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), the popular "Cheers" character who offered his take on the characters sitting across the Boston-based bar. After "Cheers" ended, Frasier headed across the country to Seattle, where he took the job of radio host, offering advice to those who called in (including many celebrity voice cameos).Surrounding Frasier is snobby brother Niles (the brilliant David Hyde Pierce), his grumpy father and former police officer (terrific stage-and-screen actor John Mahoney) and a few other supporting players, such as a caretaker for Frasier's father (Jane Leeves) and Frasier's co-worker, Roz (Peri Gilpin, replacing Lisa Kudrow from "Friends", who was originally cast)."Frasier" is now entering its 10th year, and the show continues to hold on to an audience on Tuesday nights, enough so that not only have some of the original writers and producers been brought back into the fold, but talks about another season of the show are reportedly continuing. Although the show may not be quite as consistent as it was in its finest hours (as the director/writers note in their commentary, some of the elements of comedy, such as the more snippy relationship between Roz and Niles and how Niles loved Daphne from afar, have been left behind due to new plot developments) mid-way through the run, the chemistry of the cast is still impressive and the writing is still often sharp and intelligent. Some of the plots have started to seem familiar after ten years, but the show often comes up with inspired new stories for the characters.The second season of "Frasier" is one of the show's best, containing some great episodes it was nice to view again after a few years. The opener, "Slow Tango in South Seattle" has Frasier furious after learning that an early romantic escapade with a piano teacher has become the basis of a book by an old friend. "The Show Where Sam Shows Up" brings back Ted Danson in his "Cheers" Sam Malone role, but Danson's performance is outshined by an early Tea Leoni as the woman that Sam is thinking about marrying. "The Unkindest Cut" has Eddie escaping from an appointment to be fixed. "Flour Child" highlights David Hyde Pierce, whose Niles character experiments with the idea of fatherhood by carrying around a 10-pound sack of flour. "The Botched Language Of Cranes" has Frasier offending Seattle when he tells a caller to "move away" to try and restart her life. His attempts to make-up to the city fail terribly. "Adventures in Paradise" has Frasier's ex, Lilith, returning when Frasier takes his new girlfriend on vacation. "Seat of Power" has the Crane brothers calling on plumbers (including John C. McGinley of "Scrubs"), who happen to be the same bullies that made the Crane's lives miserable - including sticking their heads in the toilet ("There goes Crane, down the drain.") - when they were kids.25. Slow Tango In South Seattle 26. The Unkindest Cut of All 27. The Matchmaker 28. Flour Child 29. Duke's, We Hardly Knew You 30. The Botched Language Of Cranes 31. The Candidate 32. Adventures In Paradise, Part 133. Adventures In Paradise, Part 2 34. Burying A Grudge 35. Seat Of Power 36. Roz In The Doghouse 37. Retirement Is Murder 38. Fool Me Once, Shame On You, Fool Me Twice...39. You Scratch My Book... 40. The Show Where Sam Shows Up 41. Daphne's Room (a.k.a. A Room With A View) 42. The Club 43. Someone To Watch Over Me 44. Breaking The Ice 45. An Affair To Forget 46. Agents In America, Part III 47. The Innkeepers 48. Dark Victory The DVDVIDEO: All of the episodes of "Frasier" in this second season are presented in the show's original 1.33:1 full-frame aspect ratio. The episodes are presented across the set's 4 DVDs. The picture quality is about broadcast quality; while sharpness, detail and clarity are perfectly fine, there were a few minor issues otherwise.With the episodes spread out across four discs, there were only a couple of minor instances of compression artifacts spotted. These instances were hardly noticable, but unfortunately, some mild shimmering was. No edge enhancement was spotted, nor were there any instances of debris or wear visible (although I'm guessing these were video transfers). Colors appeared accurate and natural throughout, with fine saturation and detail.SOUND: "Frasier" is presented here in the show's original 2.0 audio. These are simple soundtracks, with clear dialogue and little in the way of background ambience or other sound effects. Still, clarity is perfectly satisfactory.EXTRAS: Director David Lee and writer Joe Keenan provide commentary for "The Matchmaker". The two offer a decent overview of the creation of the episode, from pitching the idea to casting. There were a few quiet moments, but overall, this was a pretty good track. "Marching on to Season 2" is a 6-minute featurette that has the show's creators discussing the changes and transitions made in the jump to the show's second season. "Mystery of Maris" looks at the continuing lack of appearances by Niles's wife, Maris. "The Niles and Daphne Attraction" focuses on the love from afar situation for Niles. Other featurettes include "Roz's Dating Tips", "Celebrity Voices" and "And Then There Was Eddie".Final Thoughts: The second season of "Frasier" includes plenty of highlights, as the character relationships were fine-tuned, the plots inspired and the performances superb. Paramount's DVD edition provides some decent supplements, but good audio/video quality. Recommended.

ATTENTION: Season 10 is now available in DVDRip Xvid - FoV quality !!!
ATTENTION: Season 11 is now available in DVDRip Xvid - YoungDangerous (re-encoded to fit into single 4.7GB DVD disk)


"Frasier" provides a weekly dose of the neuroses and tribulations suffered by an insecure and pompous psychiatrist, Dr. Frasier Crane, host of a Seattle radio advice show at KACL. The twice-divorced doctor's peaceful home life of fine cigars and haute cuisine was shattered when his gruff, ex-cop father, Martin, was injured in the line of duty and forced to move in with Frasier. Martin brought with him a semi-psychic, live-in home-care provider, Daphne Moon, his pesky Jack Russell terrier, Eddie, and a duct-taped recliner that clashes with Frasier's more aesthetically pleasing Eames and Wassily chairs. Their home is frequently visited by Frasier's snobbish and competitive brother, Niles, a fellow psychiatrist whose longtime romantic interest in Daphne was finally happily realized at the conclusion of Season 7. At work, his slightly jaded producer and man-hungry single parent Roz Doyle, supports Frasier. Some of the people who voice the callers to Frasier's radio program are often bigtime celebrities.
I have all seasons of Frasier in DVD Rip quality and I will upload them all ! I also have extras material and interview's but it will take a little time ! So this is where it begins:

This forum doesn't allow large posts so I had to display only folders. However I uploaded this *.txt file that contains links off all seasons so you can now use your download managers with out any difficulties !!!

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